AWARD-winning actor and filmmaker, Kunle Afolayan has revealed that the raging COVID-19 plaguing the world economy, affected his latest project, Citation.
The sex-for-grades themed movie, which according to Afolayan, is gunning for an August 2020 theatrical release, was affected and had some things delayed due to the lingering lockdown, a measure instituted by the Federal Government to curtail the spread of the infectious disease.
“As luck will have it, we managed to complete the shoot before the COVID-19 lockdown started. We filmed from early January till sometime in February, and we have even started post-production before this whole pandemic thing started. Sadly, we couldn’t follow our planned schedule,” he said in an interview on Channels TV.
According to Afolayan, there is one aspect of Citation‘s post-production that needs to be done in the United Kingdom (UK), which requires him to book ahead.
He added, “I had already booked to go and do that in April, and when this entire thing started, I thought it was something that was just going to come and go real quick, but it’s still here. It has really affected the entire work.”
When asked if he thinks people will be scared to go to the cinemas, the actor said he doesn’t think so. Exemplifying his point, he revealed that he sees loads of people on the road everyday.
“I think the important thing is that movie campaigns should continue, and stakeholders should focus on preventive measures to curtail COVID-19 spread. Everybody should follow directive from the health officials, and government parastatals. We need to continue to live. You keep people at home for too long, and this can actually turn to a lot of things, but already I think people are out there. So, the campaign should be channeled towards people taking precautions, and doing the right thing,” he explained.
On how much precautions can be taken on movie set, he said, “Once you step into our movie set, we check your temperature. We have a basin where you wash your hands, and you must wear a face mask. I even have a lot of masks that I give to those who are coming on set without their masks. When you come in the morning, everybody can do the routine. If you even do anything on set that requires you to wash your hands, you just have to do that, and we have sanitisers.”
In the course of the interview, Afolayan who has award-winning movies like Irapada, October 1, amongst others to his credit, admitted that celebrities have a lot of roles to play when it comes to the enlightenment of the public.
“A lot of people in the entertainment industry have responsibilities. We aren’t amplifiers, but influencers. A lot of us have thousands and millions of followers. Some of these followers are -diehard fans; they just go ahead with whatever you say, they don’t even bother to check it out as long as it’s coming from you. I know a lot of people have been educating and enlightening people on what should be done, and what shouldn’t be done. Although, we can only try; not like they all going to listen to us anyway. But for me, I think playing your role as a person of influence is a part of social responsibility,” he said.
